February 24, 2012

On Saturday, Feb. 25, the Manhattan Arts Center will show the work of 14 interior architecture and product design graduate students that honors the wounded warriors coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan in a show titled "Daring to Care for Wounded Warriors." These students designed a rehabilitation center for the returning veterans as part of their capstone studio under the guidance of associate professor Vibhavari Jani. The Manhattan Arts Center will host a reception to recognize these students from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25.

The Pentagon’s Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center reports having diagnosed 229,106 cases of mild to severe traumatic brain injury from 2000 to the third quarter of 2011, including both Iraq and Afghanistan vets. This number increases even more if one considers all the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans returning back from their deployments with post-traumatic stress, hearing loss, breathing disorders, diseases, and other long-term health problems.

Since many of these wounded warriors are returning home to Fort Riley, located close to Kansas State University, the studio decided to take the challenge to understand the rehabilitation needs of these wounded warriors in fall 2011. This semester-long, community-based, warrior-focused, service-learning project was introduced to enhance students’ understanding of psychological and physiological pain of the this war veterans and to inspire students to find research-based, innovative spatial solutions that can assist in healing these wounded veterans and reconnecting them with their families, friends and the community.

At the end of the semester in December, these students presented their designs at the Fort Riley Military Hospital, where the commander-in-chief, the chief of facilities operations, and the rehabilitation hospital’smedical staff were present among other staff members and provided their feedback.